Wammy's Bush Whacking Whacker!
by Frogata
Summary: Thrive, a new Wammy's girl has arrived! She's an Aussie tomboy who has a knack for annoying Mello! MelloXOC AU, there is no Kira. Just Wammy's House fun! R&R Please!
1. The Bushie Arrives!

**A/N: WOOHOO! I'M OFFICIALLY JOINING THE DEATH NOTE FANFICTION-Y... Thingy... Errrrr. Ok then. ANYWAY! This is my first Death Note fic! Aside from that all I have done is Ranger's Apprentice fics... Speaking of that, WOLFIWILL SO HELP ME IF YOU EVEN TRY TO READ THIS BEFORE YOU HAVE COMPLETED DEATH NOTE I WILL PERSONALLY GOUGE YOUR EYES OUT WITH A SPORK AND MASH THEM WITH A HAMMER UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT! Once you finished Death Note you can read it. NOT BEFORE. Which brings me to another note: There are SPOILERS! Also... This is my first attempt at romance... Wolfiwill, when you DO get around to reading this: Shut up! I can write romance if I try... Maybe... Probably not... Ok, I think I have rambled on for FAR too long, soooooo, ima let you read the story now. OH YEAH! This story follows a different plot to the anime. There is no Kira, or Imagay Light-bulb, so L IS STILL L!**

**Disclaimer: L get off your lazy arse and do the disclaimer! *L throws banana cream pie at my head* Whoa! Jeeze! Fine, I the wonderful author who is THE REAL L *scowls at said detective* does not own Death Note. So there.**

**Warnings: SPOILERS! GARG! And a teeny bit of swearing, some violence, all the good stuff :P... Aaaaaand depending on whether I have the guts to write a kiss scene or not there might possibly be that too...? Wolfiwill, stop laughing! Ehhhh, just read already. *hides in sad corner TAMAKI STYLE!***

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><p><strong>Wammy's Bush Whacking Whacker!<strong>

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><p><strong>Matt<strong>

I was sitting under the orange tree again, watching Mello kick everybody's asses at soccer (like he always does) and playing Pokémon on a sunny afternoon. Nothing much had been going on in Wammy's lately. No new arrivals or events. Just the same old stuff. Go to class, eat, go to the dorms, eat, mess around, sleep, wake up, eat and the whole thing repeats. The only difference with Mello in that schedule was that Mello was constantly eating chocolate. As usual. So really, it still applied to him. Sighing, I paused Pokémon to loot the kitchen for snacks. And some chocolate was needed for Mello. Hey, I like living, ok?

I came back out shortly after to find Mello and his team (basically Mello, cos he hogs the ball) had won. He ran over to me seeing the chocolate in my hands.

"Matt! You came just in time! I just finished my last bar!" He looked rather relieved considering that it was only chocolate. Then again, this is _Mello _we're talking about. He will do anything for chocolate. An arm, a leg, you name it. If he doesn't have his chocolate, he'll gladly sacrifice a limb. But that isn't his style. He'd be more likely to threaten you to get more for him. It mightn't sound like much, but Mello's death threats are freaking _scary. _I'm talking _piss yourself _scary. Anyway, after snatching the chocolate off me, he ran with the rest of the kids to the front gate. It seemed a new student was arriving.

I decided to go see what everybody was so excited about, only to find Watari get out of his car and help somebody else out too. I couldn't quite see them though...

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><p><strong>ThriveFern**

I pulled my earplugs out of my ears after some serious drum and bass music, as we pulled into the driveway at Wammy's. My midnight blue eyes twinkled as I beheld my new home. Stretching my limbs, I put my IPod away as Watari opened my door. Smiling, I climbed out, only to be surrounded by children of all ages. The one up the front was a girl dressed all in leather. She had a leather vest, leather pants, combat boots, blue eyes and a blonde bob. I walked calmly around to the boot of the car and grabbed my bags. Watari had informed me earlier that I needed an alias if I was to live here, and, deciding on my tastes for music, and personality, I chose Thrive.

My real name is Fern Valley. Weird, I know. You can thank my Dad for that. He named me, as my Mum died in childbirth. I lived with my Dad in Australia until I was about 13 and a half. Then he died. It was New Years Eve, he went out with some friends, and on the way back, some stupid drunks killed him. I had been depressed for a year after. When that year ended, I had accepted that he was gone, and Watari had whisked me away from the craphouse orphanage I was staying at to here.

I pulled my bags into the entrance of Wammy's House as the other children ran around the backyard (I assumed) out of my sight. Soon there was the same group of children standing in front of me. I raised my eyebrow and grinned. "Uh, hi?"

* * *

><p><strong>Mello<strong>

He ignored us. He just walked right past the group and into Wammy's. Growling, I ran past the backyard and around the house until I reached the backdoor. I ran in, the other students following me as I went through the house, stopping at the front door. That same boy stood there. He was rather... Strange looking. He was tall, skinny, but slightly muscled on the arms. He was wearing camo cargo pants that went to his ankles and a loose T-shirt that said 'Pendulum' in big white letters on a black background. He was wearing big black and silver sneakers. He had midnight blue eyes, the kind that seem too dark to be natural, and dark blue/neon blue hair with black at the tips. His hair was spiked up so that it was messy and floppy.

I didn't realise how wrong I was until _he _spoke. "Uh, hi?"

It turns out that _he _was really a _she._ "Who are _you?_" I said, trying not to be _too _aggressive, but failing horribly. _She _seemed unfazed as she coolly answered.

"My name's Thrive, I guess. Can't tell you guys and girls," she said, looking at me with a smile "My real name, can I?" Feeling more pissed off than a bear that had been woken up from hibernation, I growled.

"I'm a _boy _you moron! Are you even a girl or what?" I said, hearing Matt chuckle behind me. The other kids backed off a few steps – I'm sure they did. She looked slightly hurt, muttering a quick sorry before turning to Watari.

"Sorry, that's Mello, he's always like that. And over there is Matt." He pointed to Matt and then everybody else, saying their names. She nodded and looked at me apologetically before talking to Watari once more.

"Soooo, where is this fantabulous room I get?" She asked with a grin. Watari gestured Matt and I over.

"Mello, Matt, could you two be so kind as to escort Thrive to her room (room 31) and show her the house?" He asked. Matt nodded, and I growled before agreeing reluctantly. We walked past the dining room and up some stairs until we came to a corridor. We showed her the room which she was allowed to herself.

"Thanks! I'll bugger off and put me stuff away. When is this so-called 'tour' of the house then?" She asked. I noticed she had a fairly strong Australian accent. My eyes narrowed at her cheerful tone as I shoved Matt forward. He looked at me with a confused face as he got the message.

"I guess I'll give you a tour after dinner then. Rodger will come see you at some point to verify your alias. See you then." He said to her. She said 'thanks' again and left to her room. I sighed once she left. Dragging a grinning Matt by the back of his shirt, we went to our room.

"She fucking thought I was a girl!" I complained to him when we got inside. He snickered.

"Well, to be fair, I could see you thought she was a boy until she spoke. You looked so confused!" He laughed at the end, until I punched his arm. Hard. Though in hindsight, he _did _have a point. As it turned out, she was put in the room next to ours. Sighing again, I took a bite out of my chocolate bar, relishing in the creamy taste.

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><p><strong>ThriveFern**

I walked into the room to see... Barely anything. A bed, a wardrobe, a desk with a wheelie chair, (I LOVE wheelie chairs!) and a dressing table. It had pale pink walls, which I immediately gagged at. I HATE the colour pink. Despise it. It also had a decent size window overlooking the backyard. The backyard looked amazing! It had a pool, a tennis court, a playground and the rest was grass. I couldn't wait to get down there. I also couldn't wait to see if I could re-paint the walls. Bleck. I wanted them black, maybe silver. My favourite colours are black, blue and silver. Yeah, yeah, tomboyish I know. I'm a tomboy and PROUD! Same with being Aussie. Smiling to myself, I set to unpacking my belongings, the most precious of which being my computer, which had been delivered in advance (because it was so heavy) and was sitting on the desk.

I set up my computer under the desk, the mouse and keyboard on top. The monitor was a 16 inch flat screen, and I loved it. It had such good quality. My dad had given me my computer. Built it, actually. I loved it. On the side, in permanent marker, was a magnificently drawn dragon in silver on the black case. It was my favourite possession, alongside my subwoofer which sat under my desk as well. Drum and bass just wasn't drum and bass without a subwoofer.

I unpacked my clothes as the rest of my belongings were arriving by plane, later. Not straight to the orphanage, but, to the... Airport... Ok, never mind. Anyway, I unpacked my clothes which basically consisted of various shades of camo cargo pants and various loose T-shirts that had some dark colour to them. I also unpacked my case full of contact lenses. Yep, deep blue was not my natural eye colour. It was sort of a security thing by now, since my dad died, I have been using various coloured contact lenses to 'hide' the sadness in my eyes. I have accepted his death, but I still wear the lenses and dye my hair blue. I mean, hey, they are both brown naturally. _Brown. _How utterly _boring. _

Once I was all unpacked, including my various costumes (I liked to dress up as random stuff. Dragons, werewolves, you name it) I pulled out my blue contacts and washed them off before returning them to the case full of colours. I picked out two of my favourites for freaking people out. Two full contacts that covered my whole eye, but made it so I could still see. They made my entire eye look black. I had the same version but in white as well (that one was for my zombie costume). Grinning evilly, I slipped on a pair of tattered cargo pants and a tattered T-shirt full of holes that complemented my eyes. I used my costume makeup kit (you won't see me using makeup for anything other than costumes) to give some 'dirt' smudges on my arms and face, before putting on my old shoes, the ones that needed replacing years ago (and they were replaced. With my shiny black and silver ones).

In my new scare-the-living-shit-out-of-people costume, I walked outside my room and over to the door of the room next to me. Holding my arms out, I knocked on the door, hunching over feebly to add to the effect of the costume. Mello answered. "H-Help... Me..." I groaned.

"HOLY FREAKING HELL! WHAT THE FRICK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He screamed. He slammed the door in my face as I cracked up laughing, hearing the muted screams of profanity from inside. I saw a man walking down the corridor to stop at my door.

"Over here," I said, to direct him to me. He jumped and let out a little yelp. Oops. Guess I forgot about the costume. "Ahh, sorry... I just scared Mello is all..." I grinned sheepishly, probably still looking like some kind of homicidal maniac from a cheap sci-fi TV show. He walked over to me, looking a tad bit pale.

"Ahh, yes, I heard the swearing. Speaking of swearing..." He walked over to Mello and Matt's door and knocked on it. Mello swung the door open, in an attack mode sort of stance. I chuckled as he relaxed. "Mello. Please refrain from screaming profanities down the hall. We talked about this, remember?" Mello glared at me, before nodding his head and shutting the door. I guess he was still pretty shaken.

Rodger turned to me. "And now, miss. What have you chosen to be your name here and how do you spell it?" He asked me.

"Ahh, right. My alias is Thrive. T-H-R-I-V-E is how you spell it. Is that all?"

"Yes, for now, do you remember where the dining room is from when you came up?" I nodded. "Good. Well, we'll see you down there at seven." I uttered a 'thanks' and turned back to my room, removing my costume and putting my normal clothes back on again. I changed the contacts to some green ones and walked back to Matt and Mello's room, knocking on the door.

* * *

><p><strong>Matt<strong>

"You answer it." Mello called to me.

"Can't be bothered," I replied. He shot me a glare, so I got up and opened it. It was Thrive. She had green eyes now. I take it she was using (and possibly still is) contact lenses. I cracked a grin. "Hey Thrive! Man, you really scared the shit out of Mello!" I gestured to the sulking Mello in the room behind me as Thrive grinned. I heard Mello stomp up behind me.

Turning around, I saw his glare. It said 'don't-push-your-luck-if-you-want-to-live-to-see-18'. Scary. "Why the fuck did you do that?" He said, venomously at Thrive. She was unfazed again.

"Just making a good first impression after I accidentally mistook your gender. No worries 'bout it though. People think I'm a boy all the time. I'm sure it feels the same the other way 'round right?" She said to Mello. He was about to say something, but she interrupted him. "WAIT! Back in a tic!" She called running into her room, then coming back out with a packet of gummy bears. Grinning, she held it out to Mello and I. I took one, and Mello glared at her, biting his chocolate instead. "Not a gummy bear person? Well alrighty then. I love them, personally." She popped a couple into her mouth, chewing them with a smile. Mello growled and went back to the room.

"Don't worry about him. He's just sulking. Also, just curious, do have ADHD?" I asked. She was quite hyperactive so far.

"Neat! How'd ya guess?"

"Oh, nothing, you were only jumping around and scaring the living shit out of people and turning your head every time you hear a new noise."

"Touché," she replied, grinning. "Soooo, I take it Mello's a chocolate addict? I can't have chocolate. Because right now, I can tell you, this" she gestured to herself, "is not hyperactivity. You haven't even SEEN hyperactivity 'till you see me with chocolate. Scary." I noticed she spoke really fast, so her words brought out her accent more.

"Yeah, Mello loves chocolate. He lives on the stuff. I live on video games!" I said, gesturing to the Gameboy in my hands, currently bleeping away as I beat the final boss. Easy.

"Oooooh, is that the old Kirby game? I love that game!" She said.

"Yeah, it is! You play games?" I asked.

"Hell yeah, I love them! You got an X-box? Can I play Halo?" She didn't even wait for me to answer before she asked if she could play. Wondering if she was any good, I invited her in, much to the dismay of Mello.

"Matt! Why the hell is she coming in?"

"I'm going to see if she is ok at Halo or not, seeing as you _suck _at it."

"What? I just prefer whacking them rather than shooting them!"

"Yeah, and that's what makes you lose." I countered. He grumbled and went back to eating chocolate.

I walked over to my side of the room, the floor littered in cords and various game cases, save for two beanbags and a large TV. Thrive followed, sitting down in the blue beanbag. Mello scowled at her. I chuckled, sitting down in the red beanbag after setting up the game.

We played Halo until dinner. It turns out she was really good at it. I was happy with this fact, as Mello sucked at Halo. We all went down to dinner, Mello glaring at Thrive the whole time. I chuckled as she told me of her random adventures in Australia. She was a hyperactive tomboy to sum her up. But she was more fun to hang around with then _just _a tomboy. I learned that she could sneak around really well, and loved drum and bass music more than any other kind. That and trance music. She was obsessed with dragons and reptiles and amphibians. Very strange for a girl, but nice nonetheless.

We got to dinner in time, sitting down at a table. Each table was big enough for 6. I sat next to Mello and Thrive sat on the end. Three boys called Forge, Tech and Gadget. Forge was skilled at inventing. He created a range of inventions from a successful mini cannon to an unsuccessful D-day device (It exploded). Tech was skilled in all thing computers. He built computers, he fixed computers, he made robots, and pretty much anything else to do with technology. Gadget was skilful in fixing things. If you had a broken toy or ornament, he would fix it. He always carried a roll of tape with him, and a sealed bottle of superglue. They were all really cool at what they did considering they were only 10 years old.

Dinner was Lamb chops and mashed potato. Thrive ate faster than even Mello. And that was saying something. "Hungry much?" I asked her, a grin on my face. Ok, I think a grin is just about _always _on my face. Mello was staring at her, shocked at how fast she was eating.

"Yes! I haven't eaten for yonks!"

"Er... Yonks?" Mello asked.

"You know, yonks! A long time!" She replied back to Mello, who resumed eating his dinner, faster than before. I chuckled at how jealous he was being of this new girl. I think it was because she was hanging out with us all day. And also he was still probably pissed from the, er, 'costume incident'.

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><p><strong>Mello<strong>

Dinner passed quickly. Soon it was dessert. Chocolate pudding. Yum. I savoured it, unlike Thrive, who downed it all at once, practically. I heard Matt drop his spoon. He was staring open mouthed at Thrive who had just finished the pudding. I saw her look down at the empty bowl before getting a look of horror on her face. "Oh... Shit..." She said. I looked at them with a questioning face, and Matt told me what happened to her if she ate chocolate.

It didn't take it long for the chocolate to take effect. She began giggling madly, struggling to sit up. I think my face had written across the forehead 'What-the-fuck?' because she just kept on laughing, her green eyes twinkling as she went. "Oh crap! HEEHEEEEE! I think the chocolate HAH HA is working!" She struggled out, halfway through laughing at the same time.

No shit Sherlock.

She jumped out of her chair, running to the other side of the room, over to Near. I seethed with anger. She was _talking _to _Near_. Matt and I looked at each other before running after her. We found her talking to Near as I had expected. She had drawn quite a bit of attention, being the new person, breaking into mad laughter at the table and then running over to the other side of the room to talk to Near.

When we got there, we finally heard what she was saying to Near, and I heard a pent-up laugh escape my throat.

"Maaaaaaan-you're-some-freaky-albino-dude-huh? Sorta-like-a-sheepy-sheep!" She said, so fast I could only just understand her. She began cracking up laughing again. "Sheepy sheep! Haha! Sheepy!" Matt and I were staring at her, Near was staring at her. Pretty much everyone else was staring at her. Rodger was by the door, shaking his head which was supported by his hand. Near looked shocked. It was the first emotion that could be seen on his face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was half open. I grinned evilly. Matt poked my side, reminding me of what was happening, and gestured to Thrive.

We walked around to Thrive and stood behind her. We each took an arm and dragged her from behind. She tried to run forward. And succeeded. Did I mention she was freakishly strong when she was hyper? Well, she sure as hell was. She wound up dragging _us_ by our arms out of the room and out the back door. "LET'S GO SWIMMING!" she screamed, running for the pool. Matt and I looked at each other, faces pale with horror. I think the whole orphanage heard her, because soon they all started piling out to see what was happening.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE LIKE MORONS! COME HELP US!" I shouted at them, struggling with Matt to hold Thrive back from getting to the pool – and taking us with her. They soon obliged and ran over to help. Only a few actually did anything though. And by a few, I mean our trusty friends Forge, Tech and Gadget. Gadget grabbed her waist from behind, while Forge and Tech grabbed the bottom of her legs, and pulled backwards. She toppled over, falling on who else, but me. Everybody else had fallen to the side, and Thrive was pinning me down. She stood up quickly, stepping on my stomach in the process. I let out a pained 'oof!' noise and sat up, clutching my belly. I just ate, too.

She ran for the pool again. Growling, I ran after her, screaming "GET BACK HERE YOU CRAZY BITCH!" she just laughed, running faster. I jumped and tackled her to the ground. "GADGET! TAPE!" The little boy ran over soon after, tape in hand. He bound her legs, and then her arms, while I pinned her down. When she was bound, she looked sort of sad. It was pathetic. "Thanks Gadget. She is NEVER getting any of my chocolate. EVER."

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><p><strong>ThriveFern**

_N'awwwwww, why did they have to bind my limbs? I just wanted a swim... _

I didn't realise that I had voiced this out loud, because Mello soon screamed "Because you were running around like a fucking maniac!" Oh yeah. That. Matt and Mello each grabbed my arms and legs, and dragged me back inside and up the stairs. They dumped me on my bed, leaving me to 'sleep'. As it so happened though, I managed to get my arms free. I unbound my legs, and decided that if I wanted to live and not be slowly dismembered I should stay in my room. I sat on my bed, reading one of my many mangas, eating gummy bears.

I can't think or concentrate without my music. After all, that is why I have my trusty subwoofer! I grinned as I blasted Pendulum on full, tapping my feet to the beat. That's where my alias came from. I absolutely 'thrive' in drum and bass music. I can't live without it. I lose myself in it. It is just the most amazing sound to ever exist. Mello didn't think so.

_BANG BANG BANG BANG! _

He tried knocking on my door, but I ignored him.

_CRACK!_

Oh wow, I was not expecting him to... KICK THE DOOR OPEN? "Mello? What the bloody hell?" I yelled. He stormed into my room, grabbed the cord for my speakers, yanked them out, walked over to me, picked me up by the waist (what? I'm skinny and light, so shoot me) and sat me on my bed, before stealing my speakers and leaving the room. "HEY!" I shouted, running after him. I ran into his room, only to find Matt inspecting them.

"Nice, these are great quality! Where'd you get them?" He asked.

"A shop in Sydney somewhere." I replied.

I yawned. Looks like I crashed. "Hey Matt, where are the showers? I have crashed it seems, I need one before bed." He pointed me down the hall and gave me my speakers back. I grabbed them from him and glared at Mello, who was sitting on his bed, eating chocolate again. I shuddered at the sight of it.

I went back to my room, turned off the music, plugged the speakers back in, grabbed my PJ's and headed to the showers. They (thankfully) had a girl's bathroom and a boy's bathroom. I went into the girl's bathroom and showered quickly. It is amazing how quickly you can shower with hair that is super short. I finished in about 10 minutes, dried and got dressed. I walked back down the hall to my room in my pyjamas. Black, long pants and a thin, long sleeved loose black shirt. I met Matt along the way, he was heading for the showers.

"Hi, thanks for letting me play Halo and everything, looks like we didn't get to do the tour though," I said. He smiled at me, inspecting my floppy PJ's. I yawned.

"Jeeze, you really have crashed hey? And yeah, I'll give you a tour in the morning then. If you don't wake up by 7am I'm coming in and waking you." I nodded. "Well, goodnight then." He said.

"Night," I said. I wandered to my room, my hair still wet, and flopped onto bed. My belongings were said to arrive tomorrow. So, that meant my dragon ornaments, my reptile enclosure (which would sit empty because I had to leave my gorgeous pet bearded dragon Aphid in Australia) and various other things. Hopefully, the metallic blue paint I ordered for my walls would arrive then, too. Yep, as soon as I saw the walls, I went on the web and ordered a paint of the stuff, so I could get rid of the _pink._

I flopped onto my bed, and fell asleep straight away, clutching my crocodile stuffed toy.

I was glad to be here.

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><p><strong>AN: Bloody hell! (Yes, I'm an Aussie too. AUSSIES! WOOOO!) What a work! Over 7 pages! That's more then I have ever written in ANY story! For a single chapter, anyway. Also, SOOOO SORRY FOR THOSE RANGER'S APPRENTICE PEOPLE, BUT I NEED TO GET OFF MY LAZY BUTT AND CONTINUE Lost In Reality I KNOW! SORRY! BEAR WITH ME! And yeah, like Lost In Reality, Thrive has a few (lol, more than just a few) snippets of my personality in her. Like the ADHD and the gummy bears and the subwoofer and the hate for pink and the music (GO PENDULUM! WOOOOOOOOOOOO!) and yeah... Ima go then... I have crashed, lol. I'm not going to hound you to review, but if you could, I would appreciate it! Whoooo *collapses on the ground* too much typing...**

**Frogata, over and out!**


	2. The Infamouse 'TOUR'

**A/N: I can't believe I'm writing ANOTHER chapter so SOON! XD Yeah, I'm about as good at updating regularly as I am at dancing... And when I dance I look like a hippo on crack. Lol, just so everybody knows! :)**

**Warning: There is still swearing. It hasn't gone away, lol.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Death Note, every character would be constantly hyper (especially Matsuda, cos he's just awesome like that) but I imagine it would be SUBSTANTIALLY less popular hence the fact I don't own it, indeed making it SUBSTANTIALLY more popular than it would be had I owned it, which I don't. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Wammy's Bush Whacking Whacker!<strong>

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><p><strong>Matt<strong>

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

I inwardly sighed, knocking the alarm clock off the bedside table, hoping that it would turn off. No such luck. It kept ringing, forcing me to actually _get out of bed. _I groaned as Mello stirred and woke up, looking pissed that I hadn't turned the alarm clock off yet, so I reluctantly got out of bed and flicked the switch on the back, making it cease its horrible beeping. Yawning, I went to my side of the room and grabbed my usual attire of a striped shirt, jeans, my woolly vest, gloves, boots and the ever-present goggles before heading off to the bathrooms to brush my teeth. Mello was always a bit... _Slower _to get out of bed. He also wasn't a morning person, like I was. Then again, I was only a morning person because if I didn't turn the alarm off within 15 or so seconds each morning, I'd get a firm whack to the head. By a certain sleepy blond.

Walking into the bathrooms, I only saw a few other people, and most looked tired and were still in their pyjamas. It took me a minute or two to brush my teeth, and after that I went to grab my gameboy and play for a bit. That was another reason I wake up at 6am. I get to play games until 7, while Mello stumbled around and finally woke up. Did I mention he wasn't a morning person?

An hour flew by, and I remembered that I had promised to wake Thrive up, so I headed to the room next door. _Knock knock knock. _No answer. _KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! _Still no answer. I decided she would still be asleep and it would be okay if I went in. I opened the door, and sure enough, she was passed out under the covers, a tuft of blue hair poking out from under the sheets. She probably didn't sleep too easily, seeing as she was practically hanging sideways off the bed. It was rather amusing to watch, but I imagine all the blood would have gone to her head. Still, it was 7, I had to wake her. I didn't exactly know how to go about it, though. How are you supposed to wake a _girl? _A tomboy sure, but a _girl? _I have barely done anything with a girl. Aside from tease them. But really, who can resist teasing the girls who only care about makeup? Well, Mello and I can't, anyway. I decided to go with what I knew best. Poking people in the forehead.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

Poke.

_Groan._

_Yay! She's alive! _I thought. I saw her head poke out from under the sheets, still hanging sideways on the bed, before two inquisitive brown eyes looked me in the face. "Argh!" She exclaimed, before falling out of bed, and straight on her face on the floor, her lower body still in the bed.

* * *

><p><strong>FernThrive**

"Argh!" I yelped, sliding out of bed and planting my face in the carpet of the floor. Ow. Pain. I heard Matt chuckling, and it was then that I remembered. _"Jeeze, you really have crashed hey? And yeah, I'll give you a tour in the morning then. If you don't wake up by 7am I'm coming in and waking you." _He said that last night. After I crashed, so it would make sense that I forgot. I sighed into the carpet, before just laying there, still too sleepy to do anything much, my face hurting slightly. Matt poked me again, in the back of the head this time, and I made a noise that sounded most like 'Nyaaaaaah' and took a sluggish swipe at his knee with my arm. He took a step back and avoided it easily.

"Thrive, you have to wake up eventually, you know that, right?" He said.

"Nyuurg. Can't be bothered. Needs more sleepy sleep." He chuckled. I say strange things when I'm sleepy. So what?

"You can sleepy sleep later, come on, breakfast is in an hour." My imaginary cat ears pricked up.

"Breakfast?" I tried lifting my head up, but it upset the balance, and I found myself yelping in surprise again as the rest of my tumbled out of bed. Matt was snickering, trying to avoid full blown laughter, as I scowled at him, rubbing my sore head.

"Hey, are your eyes naturally brown?" He asked. Uh oh. I forgot about the whole 'contact lenses' thing.

"Uhhhhh, no, these are contacts."

"And you wear contact lenses while you sleep why?" He asked sceptically.

"Ok, fine, my eyes are brown!" I picked myself up, standing hunched over, and yawning every few seconds (or so it seemed). I am _not _a morning person. He smiled, green eyes twinkling behind orange goggles. "You can go now, I can't stay in my pyjamas all day, right?" He nodded, and left me to my own devices. I put on a black tank top that hugged my figure (not that I had much of one), and black leggings that reached halfway past my knees. I put on a pair of fingerless gloves (I call 'em hobo gloves!) and my sporting sneakers, plain white ones (with an otherwise black outfit. Yeah, I know, good look huh). I put in a pair of bright purple contact lenses to top off my outfit. Shaking off the sleep, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Normally, I would wear a loose T-shirt and my awesomely awesome black and silver sneakers, but the first hour of my day was always devoted to exercise.

Once I had finished brushing my teeth, I knocked on Matt and Mello's door to see if I could leave the grounds for a jog. Mello answered it, fully dressed in leather as always, but looking a bit sleepy and honestly? Pissed. "What do you want?" He asked bluntly, pausing at the end of the sentence to yawn. I held back a yawn as well (why must they be so contagious?) and put on a friendly smile.

"I was wondering if we were allowed to leave the grounds for jogs or anything." I asked.

"No, the old man makes us stay here unless we are going with an adult, but he wouldn't be up to running anywhere in a million years." He replied. "If it'll get you to leave me alone, I can get Matt to show you the gym room upstairs." I grinned, nodding. He called to Matt, who came out of the room with his eyes glued to a flashing DS screen.

"I'll show you to the gym room or give you the tour now, which one?" He asked.

"I dunno. Gym room I guess. Do we have any time after breakfast for the tour?" I asked.

He chuckled. "It's a Saturday, we have the whole day to do a tour. You work out in the mornings?"

"Yeah, how else did you think I'd be able to eat all those gummy bears?" I asked in good humour. He grinned, getting my point.

"Alright. See ya Mels, be back in a few!" He called into the room, shutting the door. "It's just around this corner here, these are all the recreation rooms, they have labels, don't worry. So, that is the gym room there, then there is the Music room, the Art room, the Toy room – Near's favourite place to be – and at the end of the hall you have the gigantic Library. Seriously, check out the library, it's so cool." He showed me the rooms and I thanked him. He must have noticed my eyes light up when he said 'Music room' though, because he walked over to it and opened the door. I peered inside, beholding the greatest drum set I have ever seen. I ran in, looking at the kit excitedly.

"Oh, I am SO playing this later. Are there any other kids that like music?" Matt grinned at my reaction to the drum set, and nodded.

"Yeah, I'll introduce you later. Anyway, I gotta head back, I have some homework that has been sitting neglected for far too long. Have fun 'exercising'," he said, walking off. I take it he didn't exercise much. I waved him off and went to the gym room, eager to see what was in there. There was a tread mill, a cross trainer, an exercise bike, a weight set, a mini trampoline, and one of those weird shaking things that you stand on. As well as various other things. I smiled as I made my way to the cross trainer. _Time for a good half hour of running. _I thought to myself. After half an hour of jogging, I did some weights for my arms, nothing too big, just enough so my upper body wasn't a ragdoll, then I did sit ups and push ups. It was tiring, but I felt refreshed for the rest of the day afterwards.

50 minutes later, and I was just working on my stretches, when I finished up and headed to my room to grab some clothing and have a shower to wash the sweat off of me before breakfast. My muscles were still warm from, well, being used. I went to the bathroom to have a quick shower, and by the time I had showered, dressed, and dropped my work out clothes back off at my room, it was 8am, and people were heading down for breakfast.

* * *

><p><strong>Mello<strong>

I left Matt and I's room to see Thrive walking out of hers. She turned around as she closed the door and spotted me. I inwardly sighed in annoyance. She had better not go hyper again. Expecting some random hyperactive crap to come out of her mouth, she surprised me instead.

"Mornin' Mello! Sorry about trying to drown you and Matt last night. Let's just say that chocolate for me is like large amounts of alcohol. Only fast..." She chuckled sheepishly.

"Yeah, yeah, morning. Let's just go get breakfast." She laughed.

"You're not a morning person either, huh?" She asked. I glared at her, before shaking my head. "Understandable, you don't strike me as the morning type.

"Why are you even at Wammys? Do you have any... Gifts or any of that shit?" I asked her.

"Well, for one, the previous orphanage I was staying at was crappier than a bucket made of crap that's full of crap. That and I was picked by Watari, I guess. Gifts, I guess I'm good at drumming, drumming, moving silently (like a ninja!) and hand to hand combat. As well as logical thinking and general knowledge... And being awesomely awesome." She added the last part with a slight chuckle, indicating she was joking.

"What type of hand to hand combat?" I asked her, curious as soon as it came to fighting. Old habits never change.

"Self taught. Like I said, the orphanage that was crappier than a bucket made of crap that's full of crap had a lot of bullies residing in it. I spent my spare time in the mornings waking up early and teaching myself self-defence. Of course now you won't get me willingly waking up early if it kills me, but it was helpful back then." She said with a smile. I realised how talkative she was, but chuckled ever so silently when she described her old orphanage.

"You'll have to show me later. I can't resist a good fight, even if it _is _with a girl, though I have never fought one before." I said back to her. I was even more curious when she said she was self taught, so I wondered what she meant by it.

"First time for everything." She said, smiling mischievously. I noticed her eyes were purple now. She was wearing a dark grey floppy T-shirt that had lightning bolts printed in black with long cargo pants that had an almost digital-looking pattern on them that was dark blue and black. She was wearing the black and silver boots again. We walked onwards, not really saying anything until we met Matt at our table in the dining room. I got up to get some Milo cereal (what were you thinking I'd get, Froot Loops?) with chocolate milk instead of plain milk. Then I grabbed a glass of orange juice. Orange and chocolate go well together, after all. I sat back down as Thrive began eating her cornflakes a lot slower than last night. After the cornflakes, she went back for toast. _4 slices_ of toast. Then fruit salad. And then she had a glass of orange juice. By this point, Matt and I were just chatting about school and the moronic teachers while half staring at her in awe of how much she was eating. Finally, one of us decided to ask her.

"How in Donkey Kong's butt are you _eating _that much?" Guess who asked. Yeah. It's Matt.

She looked up and laughed. "Ok, for one, I am most certainly NOT in Donkey Kong's butt, and second, I just get really hungry after a workout. That and I have yet to grow taller! Haha! I will be the tallest person to ever... Be tall!" She finished lamely. I stared at her with one eyebrow up. She was already taller than Matt and I. I voiced this aloud. "Yeah, but you see, you guys will suddenly shoot up and I'll be a shortie again, so I'm aiming to grow taller." She replied. She didn't even seem to _think _of any other part of her getting bigger except for her height. Ignorant. I sighed.

"Why do you even care about being tall? You're a girl, you're meant to be short!" I said rudely.

"Well, yeah, but tallness is cool and intimidating and cool."

"Why do you think you could ever be intimidating? You're about the least intimidating person on the planet."

"Oh, are you sure? You haven't seen me fight yet. And besides, even if I'm not intimidating, I'm still double cool."

I stretched my arms, feeling my elbow crack into place, and looking around, I saw half the room staring anxiously at Thrive.

"You _do _know you're getting stared at right?" I asked her.

"Oh yeah, It's fine." She said. "IT'S OK, I ONLY GO HYPER WITH CHOCOLATE!" She yelled, suddenly. Everyone looked at their tables awkwardly. "OH YEAH, SORRY NEAR! DIDN'T MEAN TO CALL YA A SHEEPY SHEEP!" she called across the room to a hunched over white figure. I felt the anger build up at the mention of his name, and forced myself to take a few deep breaths and calm down before she noticed. No such luck.

"Hey Mello, I'd say by your face right now, you either hate his guts or your PMSsing. And seeing as we already cleared up the whole 'Mello is actually a boy' thing, I'd say you hate his guts. Am I right?" Glaring at her for suggesting I was a girl again, I nodded.

"I hate that fucking albino bastard! He always beats me at everything! No matter how hard I try!" I ranted softly, so that it wouldn't draw suspicion. Matt, Forge, Tech and Gadget all simultaneously said "Here he goes again..."

"I should be the next in line to succeed L! But no! It has to be that little sheep!"

"Ohhhhh, L, the famous detective-y dude!" She said.

"Yes, L the world famous legendary detective that I would give up my very life for! We are all here to be his successors! Near is first in line, I am second and Matt is third."

"I wonder what I am...? Hey wait, does that mean you think Near _is _a sheep?" She asked.

"Yes, I think he's a fucking sheep!" I snapped.

She grinned slyly. "HEY NEAR! SORRY, MELLO CLARIFIED FOR ME! HE SAYS YOU ACTUALLY ARE A SHEEP! JUST SO YOU KNOW!" She screamed across the room. Matt burst out laughing next to me, as I stared at her with a confused face.

"Ahaha! That was gold! You really don't care what people think of you, do you?" Matt sputtered out.

"Heh heh, I care about as much as I do looking like a girl. Sooo, not much, if it wasn't hard to guess already." She said with a grin.

A few minutes later, breakfast ended, and Matt and Thrive left on their tour of the house. In a lighter mood, I decided to go with them (once I had stuffed my pockets full of chocolate of course).

* * *

><p><strong>Matt<strong>

It was time for the 'tour' that I was supposed to be giving Thrive, and to my surprise, Mello decided to come too. We had to take a stop for him to re-stock on chocolate first, though. When he did, I walked around Wammys, showing Thrive every single room I could think of, with the help of Mello. Honestly, when I first met Thrive, I was indifferent as to whether we were friends or not, but in only the second day of knowing me, she's grown on me, and I'm sure she's grown on Mello, too. He usually can't tolerate new friends, but it looks like Thrive will be a good change for him.

We had been around most of Wammys, the only place we hadn't been was the dorms, and that was only introducing people, and we hadn't been to the library. We decided to formally introduce her to a few people before we went to the library. First door was Linda's. I walked ahead of Mello and knocked on the door. Linda opened it, covered in paint.

"Oh hi! Come on in! Come on in! You must be Thrive? I saw you last night! That was hilarious! Dragging these two to the swimming pool by yourself!" She said, shaking Thrive's hand. Thrive looked at me with a face that said 'And you call me hyper?' being pulled into the room, Mello and I reluctantly following.

"G-day, I'm Thrive, nice to meet ya." Thrive said in response to Linda.

"Oh wow! You really are Australian! You even said G-day! That's so cool!" Linda cried. "And I love your hair! And your contact lenses! And your outfit! I MUST DRAW YOU!" She said excitedly.

_Okaaaay, maybe we shouldn't have come here... _I thought, as Mello and I began to back out of Linda's room. You could see the fire burning in her eyes as she grabbed our wrists and dragged us back into the room, sitting us on her bed, along with Thrive, sitting awkwardly in the middle.

"Okay! Thrive! You guys are obviously friends with her! Sooo, poses!" She said, as she lifted both of Thrives arms to rest on Mello and mine's shoulders. Then she made a grinning face, indicating Thrive to do the same. She did, pulling it off quite naturally. I looked down at my game, and continued playing. Mello was looking like a cat that had been poked too many times, glaring at Linda. She pulled a canvas out and put it in front of us, and then she brought her paint palette and brushes over, sitting them on a small wheelie table next to her.

It was over an hour before she finished, and Mello's patience would have run out, were it not for the fact that he had brought a large stack of chocolate with him. Thrive immediately stopped grinning and stretched her arms out when we were done, and I simply kept playing, being the one who was most entertained the whole time. Thrive pulled out a packet of gummy bears from her cargo pants pocket and opened it greedily.

"Aaaaaalright! Have a look everybody!" Linda turned the wet canvas around to reveal a perfect painting of Thrive, Mello and I. Thrive was painted with a big grin, her arms around our shoulders, Mello was angrily eating a bar of chocolate, biting into it, and I was staring down at the DS in my lap. We were painted with the sun streaming in the window behind us, giving the whole painting a warmer feeling, and upon closer inspection, I realised that Thrive's eyes were painted rainbow, each 'segment' of her iris a different colour, twinkling mischievously. It was one of Linda's better works. Glancing over at Thrive, I saw she was staring open mouthed at said painting.

"Wow... THAT'S FRICKIN AWESOME, LINDA!" She said, punching the air. Linda giggled.

"Did Mello accidentally sneak you some chocolate or something? Or are you always this hyper?" She asked.

"She's always this hyper. At least as long as we've known her, which hasn't been long, in hindsight." I mused.

Thrive grinned. "Yep, you bet I'm always this hyper! Owwwwww, smiling hurts now..." She fondled her jaw, moving it around to release the tension.

"Well, once this dries I'll put it up in the hallway then!" Linda exclaimed happily. Mello glared at her. Again. "Oh lighten up Mello, you have to admit it'd look good in the halls." The art enthusiast scolded.

"I don't like art nor am I good at it. It's too... _feminine._" Mello spat the last word out, probably still touchy from constantly being mistaken as some kind of macho chick. I chuckled at the thought of a macho chick Linda, furiously painting people like that dude in Kirby... I loved that boss, it was the coolest Kirby boss. Well, second to King Dedede. King Dedede pwned that painter dude. Getting back on track though...

Once we finally escaped from Linda's evil grasp, we _quickly _introduced Thrive to a bunch of other people. Then we were planning on going to the library. But Thrive heard music coming from the Music room (funny, music coming from the Music room. Has to be a coincidence) and had to stop and investigate. Inside there were 4 people. 3 boys and one girl. All about 14 (our age).

"Oh yeah, Thrive, this is Melody." I gestured to the girl, who had stopped singing to look at who had just come in the door. "Then there is Rhythm, Tune, and Life." I gestured to the three boys. Rhythm was playing piano, Tune was playing bass guitar, and Life was playing electric guitar. They had all formed a band, but as it so coincidently happened, they were missing a drummer.

"G-day! I'm Thrive! I'm sure you already know me after my stunt last night though..." They chuckled a bit, Melody walking up to shake her hand.

"So Thrive," Melody began, "Do you sing at all?"

"I can sing beautifully! It sounds like a cat gargling razorblades!**(1)**" Thrive replied enthusiastically. Everyone in the room chuckled.

"Well, do you play any instruments?" Melody asked.

"I. Love. The. Drums!" Thrive exclaimed. _Ohh, will we get to hear her drumming now? _I thought.

"How good at playing them are you?" Life asked.

"Have any of you heard Pendulum's songs before? Even one?" Thrive asked.

"I have! How awesome are they?" Tune piped up.

"THEY ARE AMAZING! And yeah, I can drum to every one of their songs by heart." Thrive replied.

"Hey Thrive, who are Pendulum?" Mello asked.

_Why do I have a horrible feeling she's about to go all Linda on us...?_

"PENDULUM IS THE GREATEST BAND TO CURRENTLY EXSIST ON THIS PLANET! They originated in Perth, Australia, where they slowly but surely became popular, producing 4 albums so far, Jungle Sound, Hold Your Colour, In Silico and Immersion in that order, from there they became immensely popular in the UK (Oh wait, we are in the UK, whoops) and last year they went on tour back in Australia to see their home town again and I GOT TO GO SEE THEM IN SYDNEY AND I HAVE A T-SHIRT! And just recently they toured America. However, they have yet to be widely acknowledged as they rightfully should be, while in their deserved place in the spotlight shitty _noise producing bags of shit _like the Black Eyed POOS and Lady POOPOO instead reside, and the entire world is too deluded to recognise Pendulum as the one true awesome. Oh yeah, did I mention that they are a drum and bass band and they are AMAZING?**(2)**" Thrive rambled, sucking in a huge breath of air when she was finished.

"Fuckin hell, I asked who they were, not their life story! Sheesh!" Mello said, shaking his head at her enthusiasm.

Tune started clapping. "All that in one breath! I commend you!" He said, chuckling slightly. Thrive had to stop for a couple of seconds to catch her breath, her face red from running on her last ounce of air to teach Mello about Pendulum. Yep. She just did a Linda.

"Thanks, what songs have you heard? Have you heard Crush? Cos I can play the drums for that now if you like." Thrive offered.

Tune grinned. "I love that song! I have my MP3 player with me if you don't mind playing it with the drums already recorded." Thrive grinned.

"Not at all." She said, practically skipping over to the drum kit and sitting down on the stool. The song started blaring through the speakers as she perfectly hit every single beat, and I tell you now, there were a LOT. I didn't think it possible for anyone's arms to drum that fast. And I have played with the drum set in Guitar Hero. I know. Tune was staring at her speechlessly. So was Rhythm, Melody and Life. When the song ended. She grinned, stretching her fingers, before saying two words. "Blood sugar?" Tune grinned, putting on another song of the same style. She drummed perfectly to it again. Honestly, I was really liking those two songs so far, they were the best rave-party-jump-around-and-lose-yourself-in-the-beat kind of thing.

"Thrive... How long have you been playing the drums for...?" Mello asked, a little in awe.

"Uh, well, my Dad used to love drumming, so I always used to use the drum kit there, and I loved it. That's where I got my Pendulum obsession. From my dad." She looked at the ground sadly. "After he died and I went to the crappy orphanage, there was no drum kit, so I felt pretty down cos it was one of the main things that reminded me of him."

"... Well, you're welcome on the team if you want to join us." Rhythm said, smiling.

"Really? Can I?" Thrive said excitedly.

"Yep! We practise every Saturday morning if you're in." Life said.

"YES! I AM SO JOINING!" Thrive screamed, hurting my ears, and Mello's seeing as he winced.

"Shut _up _already, woman!" He said, frustrated at the noise. I snickered.

"Well, Thrive, I take it you know the way to the library then? You can go check that out whenever?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'll check that out later. Reading's not really my thing. I prefer web surfing and music." Thrive said, grinning.

"All right then, Mello, you coming back to the room?"

"Hey, wait up!" She called, walking after us when we left the room.

* * *

><p><strong>FernThrive**

"Hey, wait up!" I called. They weren't escaping on my watch. As much as I wanted to stay and drum, I had to properly thank them... And piss Mello off some more. "Bloody hell, where you guys getting off to?"

"We were going to head back to our room." Matt said. I stared at him, suddenly getting an idea.

"What was the weather forecast for today?" I asked.

"I don't think you need a weather forecast to know that it's Summer. It's hot today, stupid." Mello said. I scowled at him.

"Weeeeeell... Let's. Go. _Swimming!_" I said, whispering the last word in an excited hush.

"Fuck no." Mello said, a blank expression on his face.

"Awwwwww, Melly Mels? You're not going to swim?" That was Matt. He caught up on my little plot. I grinned mischievously.

"_No, _I am _not _going to swim!" He hissed.

* * *

><p><strong>30 minutes later...<strong>

"How the fuck did I wind up here?" Mello mused, as Matt and I pushed him into the pool. I laughed as he fell in, only to surface with murder intent in his eyes. He grabbed Matt's leg with his left hand and my leg with his right hand and tugged us both in. Matt and I were sputtering our laughter at his foul mood. I found one of his chocolate bars next to the pool, and when they weren't looking, I unwrapped it and chucked it in the pool. Like I hoped, it floated.

"OH LOOK! IT'S A POO!" I yelled loudly and obviously. The 'poo' was floating harmlessly towards Mello, and when it bumped into his bare back, he turned around, seeing his beloved chocolate floating around in a _swimming pool _and made a mad grab to get it out of the pool. I just laughed harder as he shoved the soggy, half melted chocolate bar in his mouth, pool water and all. "OH MY EFFIN GOD! MELLO JUST ATE THE POO!" I screamed again, pretending to faint.

"Fuck off! Look what you did to my chocolate!" He yelled in agitation. I laughed, enjoying the fun we were having. I was wearing long board shorts (well, long was at my knees) and a short sleeved rashie shirt. It was so funny seeing Mello and Matt and, well, everyone trying to understand Australian slang. I noticed a flickering light in one of the halls, and all I said was 'Maybe we need a Sparky here...' To which Matt had responded 'How did you know my Pikachu was called Sparky?' It took ten minutes to explain basic slang, the first being that a 'Sparky' is an electrician. They were so unfamiliar with Australian culture, it amused me. For so-called geniuses, they were pretty clueless sometimes. Matt was just obsessive. He put his gameboy in a waterproof bag so he could play it in the pool. Ay ay ay, talk about dedication!

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the pool, then running around in the backyard, where I managed to convince a bunch of little kids to dogpile Mello. Hilarious and SO worth it! Once we had finished messing around, we dried off and went inside to lay low and play games. Mello was studying, anyway. Matt and I played games. We played Gears of War. It was fun, were it not for the fact that Matt hogged all the enemies. Dinner flew by, and then bedtime. I was about to fall asleep, when the realisation sunk in.

_... I HAVE FRIENDS!_

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! Chapter 2 done! NINE AND A HALF FRICKING PAGES! THAT'S MORE THEN I HAVE WRITTEN IN EVER! XD <strong>

**Anyone who gets this reference and can tell me, gets a hug and virtual gummy bears, courtesy of Thrive! XD**

**All this info about Pendulum is TRUE! Also, sorry if I offended anyone with different music tastes – that was just my opinion. I don't have a T-shirt. My brother does. I DIDN'T GET TO GO TO THE CONCERT EITHER! MY BROTHERS DID! WAHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

**Never done one of these before, sooo, here!**

**XXxMayonakaxXx: **Thanks! Good to know you enjoy it so far! :)

**Miku Alli: **There will be more overwhelming hyperness! And also some romance if I can push up the guts to write it... IT'S MORE CHALLENGING THAN YOU THINK!

**Tootsiepop254: **Oh yes. Mello has CERTAINLY met his match all right. KUKUKUKUKUKU!

**Well then. I am feeling a lot better now! (Oh yeah, did I mention I was sick? That's why I have written so much) It will probably slow down with the updating from here though. Just cos I have SCHOOL and all that POOP. I'm more like Thrive than I first thought... Aren't I? *sigh* Still haven't made a truly original character. OH WELL! I WILL DEAL WITH IT! Well, until next time!**

**Frogata, over and out!**


	3. Paint The Halls With Lizards!

**A/N: Kukukukuuuu, IT IS I! AND I BRING WITH ME... AN UPDATE! MUAHAHAHAHA! Yep, nothing that motivates me more than listening to good ol Pendulum. I could live on this stuff!**

**Thrive: I know how you feel! But... You do know it's MUSIC right?**

**HELL YEAH LITTLE THRIVEY! THAT'S WHY I LURVE IT! Anyways, I am updating the story now! I SHOULD HAVE UPDATED AGES AGO! I'M SORRYYYY! Anyway, I am trying to type this up quick as possible so you don't kill me. And also before I get snowed in with homework again. Those teachers know EXSACTLY when to give me heaps of homework. Almost like they're spying on me... O.o **

**Warning: Swearing, blah blah blah, the usual.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, if I did, then... Ahh, I can't think of anything witty to say... just... Read the story alright?**

* * *

><p>Wammy's Bush Whacking Whacker!<p>

* * *

><p><strong>ThriveFern**

_Poke._

_Poke._

_Poke. _

_Poke. _

_Poke._

_Poke._

"_Nyaaah, go away, Matt!" _I groaned, annoyed. It was highly unpleasant being woken up at such an hour. Wait, what time was it again? I looked at my electric blue watch from my twisted position on the bed and saw it was 6am. Looking up at Matt, nearly (and I stress the word _nearly_) awake, I glared my best death glare at him. He laughed back.

"You know, it doesn't work when you look so sleepy. You're like a kitten that has been poked too much."

"_Nyuuur! _Why does everything have something to do with poking something else with you?" I asked him. He grinned, poking me in the forehead again. I swatted his arm away, sitting up. My eyes came to rest on a pile of boxes on the other side of my room. Next to them was a can of paint and a glass container wrapped in bubble wrap. I smiled, suddenly awake and jumped out of bed. Matt's eyes followed me curiously. I ran over to the boxes, and let out a little 'whoop' of joy.

"Yay-ness! The rest of my stuff is here! And my paint!" I sung. Well, tried to, it was interrupted halfway through by a yawn.

"Paint?" Matt asked confusedly.

"Matt. Do you _know _just how much I mortally despise the colour pink?" I asked him, a serious look on my face. He looked back at me after glancing at the walls.

"Errrr, a lot?" He said uncertainly.

"Damn straight." I said, noticing the glass box. It was my old bearded dragon's terrarium, Aphid's terrarium. I sighed, looking at it. I missed Aphid, he was my only friend back at the old orphanage, and it was only with a padlock that I stopped the other children stealing him from the cage. "Anyway, if I may ask, _why the fuck did you wake me up at 6?_" I said, lacing the question with venom. If there was one thing I hated more than (ok, very slightly less than) pink, it was being woken up early.

"Well, you see... I got nothing, Mello was just taking a long time, as usual to wake up..." He whispered sheepishly. I scowled at him.

"Well, I suppose I can just do an earlier workout. Alright, out ya pop, got to get dressed." I said, imitating a British accent. He obliged, leaving me to get dressed in my usual workout attire of black leggings, a black tank top and white sneakers. I walked outside, rubbing sleep out of my eyes to see Matt standing there. "Um, hello?" I asked.

"Can I come watch? I have entertainment if it's boring!" He asked, holding up his DS. I looked at him, a little perplexed, then nodded, too tired to say anything much. I lead the way to the gym room, Matt following, staring at his DS screen. I got to the gym, not even acknowledging Matt (though I did feel a _little _self-conscious), and begun stretching. This time I did 30 minutes of the exercise bike, then 10 minutes on the cross trainer (I would have used the treadmill, but I don't like them nearly as much) I did 40 sit ups and 20 push-ups, by which point it was 6:59am. I did stretches, and left with Matt, who, - as it turns out – didn't wind up actually watching much of it at all. I left him to go have a shower, while he went to see Mello.

It was roughly 7:20am when I left my room for breakfast, and I found I was a little late, seeing as everyone else was already there. I went and sat down next to Matt and Mello, seeing as the spot was free. My damp hair clung to my face as I said my 'good mornings'.

* * *

><p><strong>Matt<strong>

I sat at the dining table, my full plate in front of me as I paused my DS, setting it down. Thrive was sitting next to me, and Mello was sitting next to Thrive. Mello and I were on opposite sides of the table, and Thrive was at the end. I was eating bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs and toast. Thrive was eating fruit salad and yogurt. Mello was eating the most disgusting choice – bacon and eggs drowned in what else, but chocolate sauce. _Gross. _

"Hello. _Hello? _Earth to Matt, come in Matt!" Thrive said, waving her hand in front of my face as  
>I zoned out, focusing on my food. Mello was looking at me with a face that said 'quit looking at me like that! This food is fucking delicious and you know it'. Yeah, hate to disappoint you Melly, but that food looks fucking <em>disgusting. <em>

"Uh, what, yeah?" I said, snapping out of my thoughts.

"Did you hear what I just said at all or...?" She trailed off.

"Um, no, sorry. Didn't get a word of it." I replied.

"She said she's going to drag us to her room to help her move the furniture around so she can paint her room, dumbass." Mello said in response. I didn't mind that he called me a dumbass – after all, he's Mello. He does what he wants.

"Ohhh, yep, got it. I have my own legs though, I can get there without you dragging me." I said, a slight sarcastic tone behind my voice.

Thrive grinned. "Nope, 'fraid I'm still going to drag you."

We grinned, bantered, laughed, ate, and then ran up to Thrive's room to paint the walls. It was annoying as hell, spending our Sunday shifting furniture and painting. It was especially annoying because we had to move _everything_. Every piece of furniture in the room was more or less against the wall, and the only things that weren't directly against the wall were right next to the wall, meaning we still had to move them. It took us a while to move everything, as in, we were done shifting furniture by 11am. Then we could start painting. However, as helpful as she is (not), Thrive forgot to order _a paintbrush _as well as the paint itself from the internet. So, as it was, we had to rely on Linda to help us.

"You go get her."

"No _you _go get her."

"But if I get her she'll want to paint me again or something!"

"Fine! _I'll _go get her." Mello hissed, ending the argument, if it can be called an argument in the first place.

* * *

><p><strong>Mello<strong>

"Fine!" I snapped. "_I'll _go get her." I suggested. Matt and Thrive nodded their heads eagerly, glad to not be the one fetching Linda. Unfortunately, I let my big mouth get in my way as I found myself walking to Linda's room. Knocking on her door, I held my breath in preparation for what was to come.

_Whoosh! _The door flung open to reveal Linda, looking as bright and sickly-cheery as ever. "Hi Mello! Come in! What's the matter? Do you want me to draw you a picture again? OH! Did you see the other painting of you, Thrive and Matt in the hallway? I put it up after it dried yesterday!" I let out the breath I was holding, trying to remain calm as possible, but of course that failed miserably.

"Come to Thrive's room with a large paintbrush and paint roller in 5." I said, strolling out of the door without another word. She looked at me, unfazed as I went, muttering something about 'please and thank you' under her breath. I made it back to Thrive's room, to find Matt and Thrive prying the paint can open, on a part of the floor that had plastic on it (so the paint didn't stain the carpet).

"Is she coming?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, wouldn't stop freaking talking though." I replied with a sigh. They smiled knowingly at me, before continuing to open the can of paint.

"_Hiiiiii~!" _Linda sung from the doorway, bouncing in with a can of paint, a ladder and several large brushes and rollers.

"Hey, what's with the can of paint?" Thrive asked Linda.

"Oh this? I saw the paint can earlier, and seeing as you were using that colour for everything, I figured if we went with a darker colour for the roof, it would look better!" she explained.

"Oh, cool! It matches the other one and everything! It is just a bit darker! Neat!" Thrive exclaimed, looking at the roof in recognition.

"I also brought 3 large brushes, 3 small brushes and 2 rollers."

"..."

"Why do you even _have _that many?" Matt asked.

"... I don't know..." Linda replied, "ANYWAY! Let's get painting!"

We spent the rest of the day painting, and in the end Thrive's room stank of chemicals from the paint. We had to leave the room for breaks every half an hour otherwise we got really dizzy. At least Matt, Thrive and Linda did. I was fine. I'm always fine. It was about 2pm when we finished, and we hung out in my (and Matt's) room to pass the time. We booted Linda away first, though. Linda's annoying. Thrive was eating gummibears. As usual. I was eating chocolate, and Matt might as well have been eating his games. Just because. Eventually, the paint had mostly dried, and we got back over to Thrive's room to push all the furniture back. It took a fair bit of muscle doing it, too. I could have used a fucking forklift for the bed. Three people and it was still hard to move. Still, we got everything back in order, and Thrive put away her new belongings. But not before I put up a row of black shelves along the wall above Thrive's bed. Seriously, she had better pay me, er, _us._

* * *

><p><strong>ThriveFern**

I wrinkled my nose at the smell of my room. It smelled like a mix of petrol and super-strength glue. Or, more specifically, paint. It smelled like paint. I thanked the boys, and set to putting my belongings in order. I moved my dragons onto the shelves I got Mello to put up and set Aphid's cage on my dressing table. It was taller than it was wide, so it fit ok. I put up my dragon clock (what else?) and set all my other knick-knacks in order. By the time I was finished, I was exhausted. Absolutely _dead. _I lay on my bed and fell asleep.

_Poke._

_Poke._

_Poke._

"Wah!" I jumped up, knocking Matt over. He pulled my T-shirt sleeve to steady himself as he fell, but I had no balance and fell on top of him. I was draped over his stomach for a good 5 seconds before we realised what just happened, by which time I jumped back again, elbowing Matt in the chest as I went. He grunted in pain as I stumbled up to my feet. I rubbed my toe which I had stubbed on the side of the bed and looked up to the door. Mello was standing there with an amused smirk on his face.

"Having fun there, cross dresser?" he sneered. I blushed as I helped Matt to his feet. That was embarrassing. I just fell on Matt. A person who I have only known for a good 2 days but has already become my best friend in history (no joke, I'm a social reject among girls, and the guys usually just bully me). And my second best friend in history was at the door staring at us. Fun.

"What's with the name now?" I asked Mello.

"You're obviously cross dressing. You don't even look like a girl," said the blond boy.

Matt was sitting there rubbing his head, seemingly ignoring Mello and I. I gave Mello the 'I'm a tomboy, it's my job to look like a boy' speech and then looked at my watch. _Oh dear..._ I thought.

"... WHY DID YOU LET ME SLEEP THIS LONG?" I suddenly yelled, making Matt jump.

Yeah, what I meant to be a little nap, turned into sleeping from 6pm _yesterday _to 7am _today. Monday. _Matt chuckled, re-adjusting his goggles. "Well, you see, we decided to just leave you when we saw you were sleeping yesterday – you _did _look pretty wiped out, anyway – and then we forgot about you. And now it's morning. And Mello decided to come along to see you wake up. And then you tackled me. And now my head hurts."

"... Oh." I said stupidly. I looked at Mello who was still staring at me with amused eyes. I shuffled my feet awkwardly and yawned. Forget a workout today, I got a big enough workout yesterday. "Well, anyway, I should get dressed into some clothes that aren't covered in specks of paint..." I suggested, not-so-subtly shooing Matt and Mello out the door. I undressed out of my 'playing outfit' and into my 'I look like a civilised person' outfit. My playing outfit was for art or running around in mud and stuff like that. I brushed my hair until it was sleek and shiny-blue. I looked at my reflection. My eyes were all red and sore from having contacts in while I slept. I was going to have to wait at least an hour before I could put new lenses in. Sighing, I left my room to go to breakfast.

Once I got to the dining room I saw Matt and Mello had already arrived. I headed down and grabbed myself some breakfast. Sitting at the table next to Matt and Mello, on the end of the table as I had been doing lately, I started up a conversation. "So, is school on today?"

The red head looked up and smirked at me. "Yep, you have all your books, right?" I nodded, stuffing a fork-full of scrambled eggs into my mouth. I didn't eat very lady-like either. Food goes in mouth. Doesn't matter how it gets there. Mello's breakfast was covered in chocolate syrup. I shuddered as soon as I saw it. I mean really, who puts chocolate syrup on EGGS? Aside from Mello I mean. He's his own species. Then again, when it comes to Wammy's I think we all were.

Mello had decided to stick with my new nickname, and I was now called 'cross dresser' by him. Fun. Once we had finished breakfast everybody went back to their rooms to get ready for school. I was one of them. Gathering everything I needed for school in my small black backpack, I walked out the door only to run into... Rodger?

"Hello Thrive. I have to tell you that you can't go to school today. You have to come with me to the airport." He told me, before I could even say anything.

"Uhh, why?"

"Your old orphanage shipped over a package that we have to pick up at the air port. It is yours, therefore I would like you to come with me."

"What is it?"

Rodger seemed to smile, but I might have imagined it.

"That can wait, please come along." Ok. So. Going to the airport. Fun. I reluctantly followed him out of the orphanage where he led me to a black limo. _Neat. A limo, even. _He opened the back door of the limo and I climbed in, shutting the door behind me. Rodger got in the driver's seat and started up the car. I watched out the window as we pulled out of the driveway, pulling a bag of gummibears out of my backpack. I opened them greedily and began chewing on one. _Always eat a gummibear head first. Then they can't bite you. _That's what my dad had always taught me as a child. It was one of those amusing things that we used to do.

"So how far away is the airport?" I asked Rodger.

"About 45 minutes."

"Bloody hell, um. Ok." I said, wondering what I was going to do for the next 45 minutes. I pulled out my I-pod from my bag and put my earphones in. I turned up the volume to full and played Pendulum. _Showdown _started playing and I relaxed into the seat a bit more, popping another gummibear into my mouth. I turned my head to look out the window. A bright, sunny morning. And I get to go to the airport instead. _Oh well. _I thought. _At least it'll be a surprise. _My sore brown eyes closed as I felt the half ache half burning pain in them. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don't wear contact lenses for over 14 hours. It hurts. Tapping my feet and fingers to the beat, I ate some more gummibears as I made my way to the airport – courtesy of Rodger.

It was about half an hour later, and I had put my contact lenses back in. I went with green. My eyes had more or less recovered, and I felt a little more secure with my contact lenses firmly in place. The only problem with them was that it is a complete _bummer _trying to get them in without a mirror, in a moving car. The road kept jolting us every time I tried to put them in, and I either poked my eye really hard, or it moved my hand away from my eyes, making me place the lens on my nose instead. 10 or so minutes later we pulled into the carpark of the airport (I'm not sure which part of the airport it was, I didn't pay attention to the signs) and pulled into a spot by the door.

Getting out of the car, I followed Rodger inside the airport, where the first thing I heard was a dog. Yes. A barking dog. It was then I decided to actually _pay attention _to my surroundings and I realised that we were in the animal pick-up section of the airport. My eyes widened, realising just what we were picking up. I scanned the room. It was white mostly, plain, boring and dull. There was a reception desk on the wall opposite the door, and shelves ran along the wall holding various sized pet-carriers. I grinned, walking up to the desk with Rodger.

"Pick up for Ruvie," Rodger told the old, cranky looking lady behind the desk. She nodded and pulled a stack of papers up from behind the desk. He signed a few spots and showed his I.D card before the old lady got out of her chair and into a room behind the desk. She came out with a pet carrier the size of an average toaster. It was grey-white, plastic with a mesh top. She put it on the desk and Rodger picked it up, thanking her as we left. He handed it to me without a word. Barely able to contain my excitement, I took it from him and opened the top.

"Aphid!" I cried happily, pulling him out of the carrier. He seemed happy to see me too, latching onto my shirt as soon as I pulled him out. The adorable little bearded dragon clung there as I walked along with Rodger back to the car. Looking at Rodger, I spoke.

"How in donkey's butt did you manage to get Aphid over here? He's a native Aussie!"

Rodger frowned at my use of the words _'donkey's butt' _then answered "With some paperwork and money."

I decided not to press, all that mattered was that Aphid was here. I looked down at the lizard, who peered up at me with lazy eyes. I smiled and stroked his head, then scratching a spot just under his lower jaw. He loved that. Once we got to the car and got in, I played with Aphid the whole way home. _Home. _Wammy's was my home now. Not that old orphanage, Wammy's. It only took 2 days but I knew I belonged here. Gummibears forgotten (I ate them), I beamed my smile for all the world to see.

* * *

><p><strong>Matt<strong>

"Where the hell is she?" I muttered under my breath. Mello and I hadn't seen Thrive in class, and we _knew _she was in our class because she was number 15 for L's successors. There were 30 people in each class, so she was definitely in ours. Mello was just as confused, we had been looking for her all morning, and we wound up late to class because of it. It was almost lunch, we were working on maths. At least most of the class was. Mello, Near and I had finished our work already. I was playing my DS, Mello was scowling at Near while eating chocolate and Near... Well he was just staring at people. He always does that though. I glanced at the wall clock above the white board. 5 minutes until lunch. Mello and I met eyes, silently acknowledging each other. The clock ticked by and finally the bell rung. Mello and I jumped out of our seats as soon as it went and ran to Thrive's room.

"She wasn't there earlier, why do you think she'll be there now?" Mello asked me, panting slightly as we ran down the hall.

"Just a –_breath_- gut feeling –_breath_-," I panted, feeling my legs burn. I needed more exercise. I was skinny and had no muscle. Mello had a lot more stamina and endurance then I did. We pulled up at Thrive's door and knocked loudly. We waited, and then, to our surprise, the door opened. Thrive blinked her now green eyes at us in confusion at our appearances.

"WHERE THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?" Mello yelled at her. She winced before pointing to an object stuck on her shirt. It was grey, kind of spiky, long. It had legs, a tail and – wait was that a _lizard?_

"Mello, Matt, meet _Aphid._" Ok, Thrive has a lizard. Interesting...

"And why do you have a lizard stuck to your shirt?" I asked, feeling even more confused.

"This is my little bearded dragon from Australia! His name is Aphid and I went to get him from the airport today! Rodger dragged me out of my room to go pick him up before class started, so I didn't get a chance to tell you, sorry." She said, rubbing the back of her head. Glancing at Mello, I realised he looked substantially less pissed, and more tired.

"That's what had us running around looking for you? A fucking _lizard?" _Mello hissed at her. She merely smirked.

"N'awww, Melly I'm so touched you were worried about me!" She responded, doing a rather girly looking pose, with both her hands bunched and put up to her cheeks. She stopped it pretty quickly after. I have to admit, it was _creepy _seeing her do that. Really.

"My _name _is _Mello. _Not _Melly_. And I'm not worried about you! Matt was!" He said, pointing at me.

"Hey! Don't pin this on me! You were the one who suggested we look for her!" I protested.

Thrive didn't buy it. She turned to Mello and grinned, before walking inside, putting her lizard on her bed (who seemed very happy just snuggling into the sheets) and walking back to the door. She looked at Mello, and I saw something flash in her eyes, I knew she was about to do something that would freak one or both of us out. It looks like she only wanted to freak Mello out though, because in the next second she had thrown her arms around his neck and yelled in an extremely high pitched voice "_Oh Melly-Belly I knew you cared about me~!" _I watched Mello stiffen, then shove her off him before I started laughing.

"What the fucking hell is wrong with you?" He snapped, glaring at Thrive, who stood there with a grin plastered on her face.

"Oh, nothing or... Maybe EVERYTHING is wrong with me!" She replied, before laughing along with me. Mello glared at us both before he punched me in the arm. I scowled and rubbed it, not laughing anymore. That same glint appeared in Thrive's eyes, before she punched Mello in the arm. He glared at her, probably holding his anger back.

"It isn't nice to punch people, Melly Boo."

He punched her in the shoulder, and she punched him back, harder. He punched her, she punched him. And so it continued. I looked between them as they landed punch after punch on their upper arms. And the strangest thing about it was that they were both smiling. Thrive laughed after she was punched, and punched Mello back harder. It was only when the bell went signalling the end of lunch that they stopped, rubbing their arms.

"Ow... Why the bloody hell did we just do that?" Thrive asked Mello, who was rubbing his tender arm.

"I honestly have no fucking clue, but we missed lunch." He pointed out.

"Oh yeah, class!" Thrive said, running back to her room and emerging with a small black backpack and a bearded dragon.

"You aren't seriously going to take that are you?" I asked, gesturing to the lizard. She smiled at me – a real smile – and whacked my shoulder.

"Why of course, Mattsie, I have to stay around Aphid cos otherwise he gets bored and tears up half the tank. Which is a real bummer replacing all that stuff you know?" I cringed at the nickname.

"I don't entirely know, no. I can't say I have ever had a pet lizard."

"Well, he does. You'll just have to believe me." She said, fondly placing Aphid on her head. It nestled into her blue hair and looked curiously at the world around it. We made our way to class, Science this time and sat down. Our teacher, Miss Woodster, walked into the class and called the roll. As Thrive's name popped up she stopped.

"Oh, do we have a new student? Where are they?" She asked, looking around the classroom.

"Over 'ere!" Thrive called from next to me. I don't know how the teacher missed her with the _bright blue hair_. Miss Woodster's eyes fell on Thrive, before calling her up to the front.

"Ok, new student! Everybody this is Thrive! Please give him a warm welcome!" She called out to the class. Mello and I chuckled, and everyone else looked at us like we were crazy. Well, we were. Just a little bit.

"Um. Miss, if I may interrupt... Ok, 2 things. 1) I'm a _girl._ 2) G'day!" Thrive said, happily. She must be mistaken for a boy a lot. The teacher's face reddened as she realised that the new student was in fact a girl.

"I'm terribly sorry about that! Ok well everybody this is- wait. Is that a _lizard _on your head?" She asked, pointing to Aphid atop Thrive's head.

"Why yes, yes it is. His name's Aphid! Wanna pet him?" She asked, holding out Aphid to the teacher. Said lizard was climbing out of her hands and wandering up her arm.

"Ahh, no thank you! I hate lizards! Go sit down now!" Miss Woodster said, in a whiney voice, shooing Thrive to her seat, who was looking very smug in freaking out the teacher. Once seated, she pulled Aphid off her shoulder and sat him back on her head. Thrive payed attention the whole class, and once we were given our work (worksheets on anatomy, fun) she focused her best on it, and moved Aphid to her metallic tin pencil case. He sat on top and watched her work, though it wasn't long before he climbed right back up her arm again. I smiled, and finished my work.

It wasn't long before class was over and we got to go hang around our rooms again. Thrive had homework to do, and apparently she had to organise some things, so Mello and I left her to her own devices and went to our room. It wasn't 20 minutes before I got a text message on my phone from whom else but Thrive.

**Do u hav hackin stuff? Can u bring it over? Dont tell Mels.**

Wondering what she could be up to, I grabbed some of my stuff, and went to the room next door, while Mello was out playing soccer again. I knocked on her door, my arms full of various peices of equipment. She opened it.

"Ahh, hi Matt! Lovely to see ya! Come on in, I have to show you something."

She led me in, where I saw her room had been put in order once more. I wondered what she could possibly want to show me, nothing looked new. I raised my eyebrow at her smiling face as she unplugged her speakers from her computer and set them on her bed, where I was sitting.

"Ok, so. What I want to know, is if there is any way to set these up so they can run on batteries, turn on via remote and have a signal sent to them on what to play." She said.

"... Why?" I asked her cautiously.

"Because, if Mello steals them again, I want to freak him out by blasting the music up really loudly when he takes them to your room!" She said with a grin.

"... Fine, but you owe me a round of Team Fortress 2." I said, watching her as she fisted the air above her head.

"Yes! This is gonna be gold!" She exclaimed, watching me set up the things I needed.

In about 20 minutes I was finished. I had used an old remote of mine for the remote to use with the speakers, and I set the frequency for it so that it would send the signal to the speakers, and the speakers only. I looked out the window and saw that Mello was finishing up his game of soccer, and was heading inside. I swore under my breath and left Thrive with her new 'improved' speakers.

* * *

><p><strong>Mello<strong>

I bit down on my bar of chocolate, severing the chunk with a satisfying _SNAP! _Collin, one of the kids from the opposite team in soccer reluctantly handed over a bag of lollies to me. I had won the game. Or at least my team had. But it was really just me.

Walking into the house, I first went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Once I finished my water I went back to eating my beloved chocolate as I headed up the stairs and down the crimson, yellow and blue halls (Linda had insisted about a year ago to make it more 'liveable'). Opening the door to Matt and I's room, I found Matt typing rather fast on his computer, and as I came over he closed the window before I could see it. "What were you just typing?" I asked him. He looked up at me, emerald eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Oh, nothing. Just hacking into the Wammy's House database of scores."

"Test scores, I presume. So, did I beat that little sheep, Near?" I asked.

Matt shook his head. "He beat you by half a point. Half a point is still pretty good though."

I was seething. Again! He beat me _again! _All the time I spent with my nose in the textbook to try and beat him, but all _he _does is play with toys! How the fuck was that possible?

"That little _shit..._" I swore, walking to the other side of the room and flopping down on my bed. I closed my eyes for a nap when I heard the thumping bass of Thrive's music through the wall. Growling, I stood up and threw open the door to our room, stomping to Thrive's room. Not even bothering to knock, I kicked the door with my boot and sent it swinging open. The music was even louder once inside. I looked at Thrive, who was looking at me in a mixture of shock and concern. She look almost... _Cute _like that. Whoa, where did that come from?

It didn't last long though. She stood up and walked over to stand in front of me. I went to walk around her so I could get at the speakers but she moved again and blocked my way. I moved, she moved. Getting more annoyed by the second, I scooped her up over my shoulder with my arm just below the back of her knees. I heard her yelp as I dropped her onto the bed and took the speakers away.

Not even looking back to see what she was doing, I wandered back over to my room. I swear she gunned the music just to annoy me. After all, the room next to hers was the cleaner's storage closet. And the cleaning lady does _not _live in a closet. Stepping through the doorframe of my room, I spotted Matt with an amused smile on his face as I closed the door. I set the speakers down on my desk and went back over to my bed to lie down and relax.

_I was running into the cold light, wondering where to go, to run away without you._

My eyes snapped open as the speakers that weren't plugged in began to play the song I remembered as 'Crush' by Pendulum. It was the one that Thrive drummed to. I was confused for about 30 seconds, jumping up to try and stop the speakers from playing music so loudly. It was _painful, _even. I twisted the knob that controlled the volume of the speakers, and to my relief it went down.

It was only a second before they turned up again of their own accord. I turned them down. They turned themselves up. I turned them down again, and they turned themselves up, again. As I turned them down for the fourth time, I was faintly aware of a voice behind me in hysterics. Matt was collapsed in his chair, shaking with laugher. It wasn't loud, either. It was the kind of laugh you get when you have been laughing so hard that your voice just can't handle working anymore. I swung around to face him, and thudded over to him, picking him up by his shirt. He stopped laughing straight away, but he was still struggling to breath, red faced and panting.

"Matt what the fuck did you do?" I screamed above the noise of the speakers.

"Oh nothing. Consult Thrive for the answers you seek!" He screamed back. Dropping him back into his chair, I grabbed the speakers and stomped to Thrive's room. Kicking the door again, I strolled in and threw the speakers at her. She caught them and then tried to say thanks but failed as she was laughing too much. She had tears streaming down her face, her cheeks were red and she was panting from laughing so hard. I couldn't help but think she looked adorable like that, even if she did look half like a boy. She did have some feminine features though, like the way she unconsciously swayed her hips slightly as she walked. Or her voice and the way she laughed. Or the fact that her chest wasn't flat as a board, but just close to. Did I like Thrive? No, I was just admiring her, right? Right...?

Stomping out of the room as I shook off my thoughts of attraction, I went back to mine and slept peacefully. Thrive didn't turn her music back on.

* * *

><p><strong>OK! Third chappie done! Yeah, waaaaaaaay<strong> **behind schedule** **(if it can be called so). I had fun with this one, and I'm finally getting the guts to write some slight form of romance! Yay!**

**Review replies! **

DeathNoteFreak32: **Thank you! I am growing to like how Thrive has turned out so far, and I'm glad you like my story! NEXT CHAPPIE IS HERE! 8D**

xXxMayonakaxXx: **Yay! Thankies! XO**

Negiocca: **Yay, thanks for the review! Witchcraft is good, but I love all of it! There needs to be more Pendulum fans out there... TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT PENDULUM! 8D**

**Okimoes! I am done with this chappie and I will write the next when I get around to it! :D**

**Frogata, over and out!**


	4. Pissed Off Mello and Pissing Lizards!

**A/N: Yup. *yawns* New chappie! Man, I need more sleep...**

**Disclaimer: I own Death Note as much as I own the deed to Santa's house. And I don't own the deed to Santa's house, so there.**

**Warning: Swearing. Swearing and craziness. But I'm sure you all know that by now.**

* * *

><p>Wammy's Bush Whacking Whacker!<p>

* * *

><p><strong>General POV<strong>

The sunlight streamed in through the window on another summer's morning. The birds twittered and chatted to one another as they flitted from tree to tree. The dew glistened on the grass, reflecting light to give a sparkling effect, and Thrive was getting pissed off because she stubbed her toe, and was now stringing profanities at the unsuspecting bedpost.

Matt stood in front of Aphid's cage, watching him crawl about from place to place, basking in the heat lamp's light. He had woken up Thrive again, through poking, of course, and was waiting for her to get up so she didn't go back to sleep. Turning to face her, he saw a tomboyish girl, dressed in long black pyjama pants and a matching long sleeved shirt. She yawned as she brushed the knots out of her short hair. Matt was quickly shooed out of Thrive's room after flashing Aphid a grin.

Thrive undressed and put on her work out gear. It was 6am, and she had an hour to do her work out and get ready for the day at school. Heading down to the gym room, she did her usual routine of exercises before stretching and heading to the bathrooms to shower. Showered and dressed, she made her way to the dining hall to see her two new best friends, Matt and Mello.

* * *

><p><strong>ThriveFern**

Beaming a tired smile, I jogged down the halls to catch up with Matt and Mello, slowing down when I was a few meters away and switching to stealth mode. I crouched down just behind them, still sneaking to match their pace. I pricked up my imaginary cat ears again as I heard what they were saying. They were talking about Miss Woodster's fear of reptiles and what evil things they could do to freak her out. My eyes studied the two boys in front of me until they laid rest on Mello's back pocket. It had a chocolate bar sticking out. I smirked to myself and extended my hand. I had to steady myself; with the tight leather pants, he might feel the loss of his chocolate. My hand was almost at the chocolate when Matt suddenly laughed and slapped Mello's back – and from the sound of it, hard – making him jolt. Mello punched Matt in the arm. Now was my chance! My hand gripped the top of the chocolate bar and pulled it out of Mello's pocket. He didn't even flinch. I quickly pocketed it in the side pocket of my cargo pants. Standing up, I threw my arms over Matt and Mello's shoulders. "Hi guys!" I said, startling Matt.

"Shit! Thrive? You scared the living crap out of me!"Matt cried, playfully slapping my arm. Mello was shaking, and slowly turned his head towards me – like an owl. His eyes were burning. His hair flopped into his face and I slowly removed my arm from his shoulder as we descended the stairs. Moving to the other side of Matt, I gave him a questioning glance.

"Oh, right, well you kinda freaked Mello out but he has too big an ego to admit it. Instead he's going to sit there and look angry at you." Matt explained for me.

"N'awww, did I fweak Mewwo owt?" I teased in baby talk. He stopped walking. Turning around, I saw that his head was up. His eyes were practically on fire, melting holes in my face, his mouth was tight-lipped but threatening to bare teeth and his hands were clenched into fists at his side. His arms and shoulders were shaking and he took one menacing step towards me.

"Thrive!" Matt whispered urgently to me. "For God's sake, run!" I heeded his warning, sprinting down the stairs and turning right, towards the dining hall. I could hear Mello growling behind me, and I mentally prepared myself for the verbal abuse I was about to receive. Darting between various people heading to breakfast, I heard him.

"THRIVE! WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK DID YOU DO WITH MY CHOCOLATE?" he screamed. I winced and ran faster. I had to find an escape route or shelter soon, or Mello would kill me. He was already gaining on me, as I glanced behind me. Looking forwards again, I spotted the one thing - no, _person _ - who would give me my chance at life.

Near.

I sprinted to him as he slowly stopped walking. I put my hands just under his arms and with my adrenalin pumped muscles, lifted him up and spun around to face Mello. "HUMAN SHEILD!" I screamed in his direction, but it did nothing to stop him. Dropping Near unceremoniously onto his posterior, I turned and ran once more, darting in between tables in the dining hall this time. Mello was still screaming various profanities at me, and it wasn't long before I found myself backed into a corner, panting heavily. Mello slowly advanced, anger evident in his eyes. Hell, if that wasn't anger before, I don't know what was. I had to play my last trump card. A sacrifice.

"Hey Melloooo..." I sung, pulling the chocolate bar out of my pocket. His eyes flashed dangerously before flicking back to plain anger. "You know what chocolate does to me, right? A hyper, adrenalin filled Thrive? You sure you want to see that?" I slowly peeled some of the foil off, and was about to bite it before Mello tackled me. Yes, that's right, _tackled me. _While everybody else – pretty much everybody else living in Wammy's House – looked on. His hand grasped for the chocolate as I struggled to keep it away from his grasp. I spotted Near, not too far away from us. In a split second, I had decided.

"Yo Near! Catch!" I threw the chocolate bar with as much might as I could muster, and immediately Mello got off of me and ran in Near's direction. The chocolate had hit him squarely in the face, and he was now rubbing his forehead tenderly. Laughing maniacally, I held up the square of chocolate I had managed to break off during the struggle. Mello, having received his chocolate bar and calmed down, finally seemed to notice the missing piece. He looked at me with wide eyes as I popped the chocolate into my mouth.

* * *

><p><strong>Mello<strong>

I watched as Thrive put the chocolate in her mouth. It took me a few seconds to register what had just happened before my brain kicked into gear. "Oh... Shit..." I whispered under my breath. Thrive's eyes were growing wide, as was her mouth, stretching like rubber into a painful grin. Really, it looked like it hurt to smile that wide. Everybody around me started to back off, as she started laughing. Loudly, still staring at me. I backed off, slowly. One step... Two steps... The floor? Oooh dear.

The next thing I knew I had been tackled by Thrive who was sitting on my stomach and stealing my chocolate bar which I had in my right hand. She laughed and ran off with it. I was still in a daze. Getting pissed off to that extent early in the morning really drains your energy. Matt moved into my vision with a scared look on his face. I got up and looked around. The door to the kitchen was wide open, and I heard yelling from the other side. Finally springing to action, I got onto my feet and ran for the kitchen before Rodger could make his way downstairs. Bursting through the kitchen door, I saw the back door leading out from the kitchen open (there was a kitchen door for the staff and a main door past the main entrance). Running through the back door I saw Thrive.

Up a tree.

Holding my chocolate bar like she was King Kong.

She was only a couple of meters above the ground, if I tried to, I could probably jump and grab her foot. Running across the yard, I made my way as fast as possible to the edge of the forest, where large trees grew. Thrive was up one of the shorter ones, but if she wanted to, she could climb higher in the blink of an eye. And the trees were so tightly knit that it wouldn't surprise me if she simply jumped to another one. Yeah, just my fucking luck.

"Melly-boo! You know it isn't good for pretty girls like you to eat this much chocolate in one go! You'll get pimples all over your gorgeous face!" She sung. That did it.

Growling like a rabid animal, I gave a running start up the tree, using the lowest branch as my anchor point to pull myself up. Once I had swung myself onto that branch, I started climbing. Thrive had already started climbing, too, and she was way further up then I was. But still I climbed, higher and higher, until she was on the highest branch that would still support her weight. I was heavier than her, so I wasn't quite as high, but I could still grab her leg and pull her down if need be. "Come on Thrive, just come down quietly and I won't kill you _too badly._" I snarled. She looked down at me, flashed an evil smirk, and then did what I hoped she wouldn't do.

She jumped into the tree next to her. I don't even know how she did it. I didn't hear any cries of pain, so she didn't scrape herself. She had jumped almost perfectly across the two trees. I say almost because she nearly dropped my chocolate.

"Nyeh! Try and catch me Melly-belly-bumpkins!" She called, beckoning to me with one hand outstretched.

"Don't call me that you crossdressing FREAK!" I yelled, jumping down from the tree I was in (it jarred my ankles slightly but otherwise I was fine. Yeah thanks for asking and all!) and running to the base of the tree she was in.

"Thrive get you and your flat chest down here!" I called, my face contorted into that of frustration. Matt finally caught up to us, as well as a few other daring children, poking their head out from the back door. The red head was standing, panting next to me with a DS on pause in his left hand.

"Hey Mattsie! He just insulted my femininity!" Thrive called down.

"What femininity?" Matt called back with a chuckle.

I turned to Matt and uttered a few profanities in various languages before turning my head back to where Thrive was. Wait a second, where was she?

Shit.

She had jumped trees again.

And I had no clue where to find her.

I heard faint rustling and knew that she had gone _into _the forest, most likely still tree-hopping with _my _chocolate. Growling under my breath, I walked through the first layer of trees, heading into the thicker areas. I still heard rustling, and I followed the sound. It lead me into a slight clearing, where there was a small clump of trees in the middle. There was no grass or flowers, there was dirt and leaves on the ground instead. I stopped when I heard the rustling stop. Picking up a fallen branch, about the length of my arm, I treaded around the clearing cautiously. Just because Thrive has bright blue hair does not mean she isn't good at hiding.

I heard a noise behind me, to find it was Matt walking up to me. "Matt, big problem, she's somewhere in these trees. I've lost her..." I said, sounding slightly shaky. With nowhere for cover and a hyperactive Thrive on the loose, the situation only just dawned on me.

Matt was standing behind me, and he was looking scared too. We both cautiously made our way through the trees near the clearing before we stopped. I saw my bar of chocolate on the ground in front of us. Walking forward with a triumphed grin on my face, I bent down and picked it up.

Matt was staring at me, or more like something behind me. Slowly turning around, I came face to face with an upside-down Thrive, who was hanging by her knees from a tree branch.

"Boo!" She said, taking my chocolate. She was about to pull herself back up but my arm flicked up and grabbed her wrist, giving it a sharp tug. She fell on the ground in a heap. It didn't take long for her to be back up, though, and she grinned at me, before passing out. Yes, that's right, she passed out.

Into my arms.

And I found myself standing there wondering what the fuck just happened.

* * *

><p><strong>Matt<strong>

Thrive just passed out. Into Mello's arms. I was dumbfounded. Mello dragged her over to me, a slight blush on his face, before he picked her up bridal-style and started making his way back where we came. "What... Did you do?" I asked him.

"I don't know! She just passed out!" He exclaimed. I decided not to voice out loud his blush, he might try to beat me up and kill Thrive in the process. Or maybe just kill me. Yeah, probably that one.

Once we were cleared from the trees we saw a bunch of children waiting just outside in the yard. It seems most of them didn't want to go into the forest. People told ghost stories about the trees coming alive and stealing children, but I didn't believe them, and Thrive hadn't been here long enough to hear them. Obviously Mello didn't believe them either.

Mello pushes past the kids and walked through the back door once more, a limp Thrive in his arms. It was obvious to me that he was attracted to her, even though we had only known her for a short amount of time. I found myself smiling despite the strange-ness of the situation. Mello's anger had just vanished as soon as she fainted. Maybe he cared about her more than he let on. Who knows?

Following Mello, we found ourselves in the nurse's waiting room, which was empty. He knocked on the door with his foot and Hilda, the nurse opened it. Hilda was a lovely lady, in her mid 30ies and happy when it came to being around children. But she didn't exactly like Mello as much as she did the other children. He caused a lot of injuries.

Hilda sighed. "Mello, you usually cause some damage to the students, but the new girl? A girl as well?"

"No, Hilda! It isn't what it looks like, she just fainted! In the woods, she just fainted and fell on me!" Mello babbled. It was unlike Mello, but he had to get on Hilda's good side – she reports every injury he has caused to Rodger. He has never injured a girl before, either.

"It's true, I was there. She was up a tree, she fell down, got up and fainted." I backed Mello up. Hilda sighed, running a hand through her short brown hair. She beckoned us in, pointing to a bed that Mello quickly lay Thrive down on.

"Tell me what happened _in detail._ I need to know first off if she hit her head at all." Hilda said while checking various signs on Thrive, like a temperature or obvious allergic reaction.

We sat down in the chairs and Mello told her everything that happened, and I filled in any of the bits he may have forgotten. By the end of it Hilda sighed and asked us if we could stay until she woke up. It was fine by me. Ditching breakfast and school, I could live with that, but my stomach disagreed, rumbling. Mello looked at me with questioning eyes, before he seemed to remember something important.

"Hilda, I think I know what might wake her up" Mello stated simply, walking over to the bed. He poked the side pocket of her cargo pants pocket and I heard crinkling. He grinned and pulled out a packet of gummy bears.

"... You're going to eat her gummy bears..?" Hilda stated, a dry expression on her face.

"No, I'm going to let her smell them." Mello replied, opening the bag and shoving it under her nose. She took in a breath before fluttering open her eyes.

"Wha... Whaddapp'ned?" Thrive mumbled. Mello dropped the packet of gummy bears on her chest and strolled back to the chair next to me with a triumphant grin on his face.

"You're in the infirmary. You passed out." I said helpfully. She sat up and looked around, the gummy bears falling from her chest onto her lap. She scooped them up with one arm and popped one into her mouth.

"So, do you have any idea why you passed out?" Hilda questioned, leaning forward in her wheelie chair slightly.

"Oh yeah. Used to do it all the time, actually! If I eat chocolate in the morning, when I haven't had any other source of energy I go hyper like before and then instead of getting really tired when I crash I just pass out. It was a really big nuisance before!" Thrive explained, rubbing the back of her head with a chuckle.

"Well... Okay then. I'll let you go to school, and I'll write you all notes saying why you were late to class." Hilda offered, scrawling something down on a piece of note paper. We smiled and thanked her, before walking out towards our rooms.

"Well, that was surely exciting! But I'm hungry..." I mumbled, shuffling behind Thrive and Mello. Thrive looked back and me and grinned. I smiled weakly back, turning my attention to my DS and unpausing it, letting Totodile run free.

"You sure you're okay?" Mello asked for the fifth time.

"Yes yes yes yes and yes, Mello. How many times do you have to ask? I just passed out! I do that _all _the time when-I-eat-chocolate-really-early-in-the-morning-and-don't-have-anything-else-to-eat-and-go-hyper-and-crash!" GASP! She sucked in a huge gasp of air after saying most of the last sentence in hyper speed (no pun intended).

* * *

><p><strong>ThriveFern**

Mello sighed before walking ahead of me and into my room. I followed him, and Matt followed me, the DS beeping behind me. I found Mello in front of Aphid's tank, looking curiously through the glass walls to peer at the lizard.

"... Can I hold him?" He asked. I smiled.

"Of course you can, mate, I'll get him out for ya!" I said cheerily. I opened the door to Aphid's cage and pulled him out. I swear he was wagging his tail. I leant down and whispered to him "Hey Aphid, buddy! You're a beardie not a dog!" before handing him to Mello, whose outstretched hand held him carefully. It was weird seeing Mello be careful with anything. But I suppose Aphid was a living thing, so maybe that was it. He certainly didn't show the same amount of respect to my poor speakers... Or my door... Or me (only when he's super pissed, though). He _did_ however carry my unconscious form to the infirmary. Oh well, Mello is Mello.

Aphid licked at his fingers a bit, before climbing onto his hand, and sitting there. What he did next made us all (except for Mello) crack up laughing. Which was really only Matt and I. Still.

He peed in Mello's hand.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm going to leave it at that, cos I'm a lazy author and I can't be bothered writing more at this point in time. ANYWAY! Aphid just piddled in Mello's haaand! XD**

**Ok, review replies! **

xXxMayonakaxXx: **I know! I wish I had a lizard like Aphid too! Wahh!**

strawberryL: **I'm trying to make him fall for her slowly, but I think it might be turning into a 'love at first sight' thing, which is not how I originally planned it but OH WELL!**

monsterousmaiden646: **Yay! Glad you like the story! AND YOU MUST LISTEN TO MORE PENDULUM! THEY ARE AMAZING!**

**Okilamokoes! I shall leave you to get on with whatever it is you were doing before you started reading this!**

**Frogata, over and out!**


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